Me • Doing • Me • Things

I have never cooked lamb before and I absolutely love gyro’s. I know that the carbs in Gyro’s can

very since some people add flours to the mix when they make the loaf. My husband and I decided to give it a go and make our own. We are very happy that we did.

We seen so many different recipes we decided to go with an easier one. But if anyone has any other tips tricks or otherwise, we are always all ears. As I’m sure you can all tell, we like to try new things.

The recipe we followed is below though we doubled it since we had 2 lbs of lamb. To help reduce carbs we only used 1 medium onion instead of doubling it. Everything else we doubled.

Recipe for the Gyro Meat was found on Reddit – here
Recipe for the Tzatziki was found from Ruled Me – here.

Lamb Meat – Gyro Meat

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded and drained (See directions)
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
3. Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.
4. Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F.
5. Slice and serve.

Note: Using a carving knife to cut the meat works great. Just like the shaved meat from a Greek restaurant!  

I would also recommend grilling the meet after its been shaved. it will improve the taste a bit and of course look tastier!

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2.5 ounces (¼ whole) cucumber, seeded and grated
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill (or 2 tsp dry)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

1. Squeeze liquids out of the cucumbers. Discard the liquid and place grated cucumber into bowl.
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. 
3. Refrigerate for at least 45 min. The taste will improve as it sits.

I say fish instead of listing Cod, Haddock, Tilapia or any other because we all have our budgets and fish is good cooked many different ways.  Granted I stick with my white fish. I got this recipe from a co-worker and it was awesome. But a word of caution: All of the amounts are estimated. I was given a list of items to use without measurements and just put together what looked right. So the description below is more of a guideline.

The picture does not do this justice!

Ingredients:

• Juice from 2 fresh limes
• 1/4 cup olive oil   (Oil should be equal to the amount of juice you get from the lemon)
• 8 oz tilapia or other white fish (we used Cod)
• Salt and Pepper
• 1/2 cup Panko-bread crumbs
• Shredded Coconut  (I used unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup Almonds (Chopped) ( I used Pecans which added too much ‘sweet’ likely will try cashews or walnuts next time)
• Cayenne Pepper – don’t hold back

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Pour fresh lime juice and olive oil into a baking pan
3. Place tilapia in pan, coat both sides in juice
4. Sprinkle salt and Pepper on fish. 
5. Sprinkle panko bread crumbs on to fish
6. Sprinkle coconut on top of fish
7. Sprinkle almonds (Can use pecans, walnuts or other kind of nut)
8. Season with cayenne pepper. (More the better  )
9. Bake approximately 8-20 minutes. Time depends on the size of the fillet. 
10. Smaller Fillets 8-12 minutes
11. Larger Fillets 15-20 minutes

Recipe makes approx 4 – servings.

This one has always been a family favorite. Often served with rice, which can easily be replaced with cauli-rice or in this case, shredded cabbage.  It has an earthy taste. This is easily one of my favorite comfort foods.

We usually made this in a crock pot, however, this time, we made it in the Instant Pot and it turned out GREAT with a fraction of the time.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs Pork or Chicken
• 1/4 c. Chopped Onion
• 16 oz. Diced Tomatoes
• 1 tsp Chicken Soup Base
• 1 tsp Marjoram
• 1 tsp Crushed Thyme
• 1 tsp Salt
• Dash of Pepper
• Cabbage/Potatoes/Rice – Whatever you want your base to be.

Directions:

1. Chop pork/Chicken into bite size pieces
2. Place all ingredients into Instant Pot or crock pot
3. Set Instant Pot to Meat/Stew on High  for 30 Minutes
   1. Release steam at 30 minutes.
4. For Crock pot – Set on Med/High for 4-6 hours.
5. Serve with cauli-rice or anything else you’d like